Digital Inferno

How can we survive and thrive in a digital world without succumbing to what the author calls digital drift, when you suddenly find you have spent far more time than intended on various vacuous Internet activities? This stimulating book gives useful guidance about how to use technology more consciously and deliberately. The author explains that the new generation of programmers have a more integrated view than previously, although he also warns that corporations are finding ever more sophisticated means of penetrating our lives. It is evident that we may not ourselves be aware of the automatic nature of our reactions to new technology, but some telling diary entries illustrate how unconscious we may become. One person nearly gets run over in the street, while another ex-lorry driver has his sleep disturbed from playing new hang-gliding games for two hours before going to bed. Interspersed in the text is a series of boxes with suggested exercises such as setting aside slots of time for distraction, not consulting your mobile phone until you have had a shower in the morning, not being connected at all at certain periods in the day, and using what the author calls 'placing' – taking control of your relationship with digital technology. Other suggestions include 'mindful posting' and resisting the urge to tweet about all your experiences (many of us don't do this anyway!). All in all, this is a balanced consideration of the dangers of digital drift.